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Tag: Jonathan

  • Jonathan begins two-day visit to Equatorial Guinea

    Jonathan begins two-day visit to Equatorial Guinea

    …Uduaghan, Geidam, others on the trip

    President Goodluck Jonathan will on Thursday embark on a two-day state visit to Equatorial Guinea, the Presidency has said.

    A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the visit was in continuation of Federal Government’s efforts to boost economic and trade relations between Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

    Abati said the president would, in the course of the visit, hold talks in Malabo with President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo on various issues of mutual interest to both countries.

    He said the issues included the enhancement of maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, exploitation of oil and gas resources and the enhancement of developmental cooperation between both countries.

    “It is expected that new agreements on strengthening of economic relations and developmental cooperation between both countries will be concluded and signed before the end of the visit on Friday,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Abati as saying in the statement.

    The presidential spokesperson also noted that the president would meet with Nigerians resident in Equatorial Guinea before returning to Abuja.

    He said Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan and Ibrahim Geidam of Delta and Yobe States as well as Sen. Ibrahim Gobir and Mr. Cyril Egwuatu would be on the president’s entourage.

    Also on the entourage will be the ministers of petroleum resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, trade and investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, aviation, Princess Stella Oduah and culture and tourism, Dr. Edem Duke.

    The Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada and the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed, are also on the trip.

     

  • Jonathan picks delegation for Archbishop of Canterbury’s enthronement

    President Goodluck Jonathan has constituted a delegation to represent Nigeria at the enthronement of Most Rev. Justin Welby, as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Communion worldwide

    This is contained in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, in Abuja on Tuesday.

    According to the statement, the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, will lead the delegation to the event scheduled for March 21 in London.

    Others are: Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power; Ms Ama Pepple, Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and Amb. Maurice Ekpang.

    The others are – the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, Mr. Kennedy Opara and the Chaplain of the Presidential Villa Chapel, Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Rev. Welby was appointed to succeed the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in November 2012.

    In a congratulatory letter to him, Jonathan said that he was confident that with Welby’s “inspiring antecedents”, he would achieve “astounding success” in the new assignment.

    The president noted that Welby’s appointment came at a time of great challenges for the Anglican Church.

    He wrote: “on behalf of my family, the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I write to express warm felicitations to you on your appointment as the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

    “I am confident that given your inspiring antecedents, you will make an astounding success of this divine assignment.”

     

  • Jonathan: Fuel subsidy must go

    Jonathan: Fuel subsidy must go

    Subsidy on petroleum products will go, President Goodluck Jonathan insisted yesterday.

    He said his administration would remove the entire subsidy after consultation with the people.

    Dr. Jonathan spoke in Lagos yesterday at the Nigerian Summit 2013, organised by The Economic Conference.

    The President said the further subsidy of petroleum products constitute waste of resources that should be channelled elsewhere. This, he said, should not be allowed to continue.

    According to him, the main beneficiaries of fuel subsidy are the wealthy, leaving majority of Nigerians to bear the brunt of the consumptive excesses of the well-heeled middle class.

    He promised that the government would engage the public on the modality for the removal of the subsidy.

    “We believe that as we progress, government is going to continue to enlighten Nigerians on the need to remove fuel subsidy,” Jonathan said

    In January 2012, Nigerians rose in unison when the government partially removed the subsidy on petroleum products.

    The protests stalled activities nationwide, especially in the commercial capital, Lagos. Activists and other catagories of Nigerians have continued to vow that they will resist any hike in petroleum products.

    .The President also said he would end importation of rice between 2015 and 2016 as various agricultural initiatives to boost local food production yield fruit.

    According to him, the priority of the government is to achieve food security and unlock the huge potential in agriculture as alternative to the oil and gas sector.

    “We are working hard to boost production of rice, sugar, cassava and oil palm. By 2015 and 2016, we should stop importation of rice into the country. Our aim is to go back to agriculture, not only to export raw produce but to process and add value,” Jonathan said.

    He noted that Nigeria has immense potential to be self-sufficient as well as emerge as a leader in global agricultural produce. The evidence: the vast arable land and favourable climatic conditions adequate for all-year-round farming.

    He outlined a three-pronged approach to tackling insecurity, including development of counter terrorism capacity in conjunction with neighbouring countries, political dialogue with disgruntled groups and an all-inclusive economic framework that provides jobs for the disadvantaged and susceptible segments of the country.

    Jonathan however insisted that political dialogue with disgruntled groups would only become an option if government can put faces to the disgruntled groups.

    The President highlighted the strides that have been achieved under the transformation agenda including the reactivation of the railway services, power sector reform, stable fiscal and monetary environment, creation of enabling political environment for economic development and strengthening of key institutions to ensure accountability and popular participation.

    On Corruption, he said: “Corruption and issues of good Governance are also being vigorously tackled on all fronts. Nigeria was one of the first signatories to the Inter-governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), and I recently signed the Anti-Money Laundering Act into law.

    “The three tiers of government now meet regularly to review and appraise progress and strategy. The recent dismissal of three judges found to have compromised their offices is an unmistakable signal of zero tolerance for corruption in the judiciary.”

    Former Brazil President, Lula da Silva, at the event, explained that it was time for the African continent to work together to ensure the prosperity of their people instead of depending on aid from foreign countries.

    According to him, Nigeria and Brazil have large potentials that could be harnessed for the growth, development and progress to both countries.

    He said Africa must rise up to the present global challenge in economy, trade and investment and other sectors in order to ensure greater future and enduring prosperity for its people.

    Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria holds the best prospects for investors in Africa noting that positive effects of various reforms would result in total overhaul of the economy overtime.

    Corporate leaders at the summit said regional integration would enhance the competitiveness of the African economies. Group managing director, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Plc, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, said competitive regional integration could only be built on efficient domestic capacity noting that companies would have to fully optimize opportunities in their immediate jurisdictions and develop competitive niches before being able to leverage on regional integration.

    He noted that the globalisation of the financial markets has removed barriers and instituted operating framework for regional financial integration.

    He however stressed the need for financial services regulator in each country to ensure financial discipline and strict regulation as well as foster regional cooperation on financial regulation.

    Vice President, West Africa, Procter & Gamble, Manoj Kumar, said governments need to focus on timely execution of existing policies and provision of supporting infrastructure to enhance regional economic integration.

    According to him, the problem of regional integration and economic development has less to do with paucity of policies but more about the political and institutional wills to implement policies.

    He said provision of adequate infrastructure would reduce turnaround time for trade within the region, reduce costs of products and ensure consumers benefit more from economy of scale and synergies.

    Ministers at the event apart from Mrs Okonjo-Iweala were: Olusegun Aganga (Trade and Investment); Diezani Alison-Madueke (Petroleum); Samsudeen (National Planning); Akinwumi Adesina ( Agriculture) Chinedu Nebo (Power) and Bashir Yuguda (Minister of State for Works).

     

  • ‘Why Jonathan should not run in 2015`’

    ‘Why Jonathan should not run in 2015`’

    The leader of the ‘Patriots’, – a group of emiment citizens seeking good governance – Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), spoke with Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU on the presidential pardon for former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, constitution review and the second term ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan.

     

    What is your reaction to the recent state pardon granted to the former governor of Bayelsa State, Dipyere Alamesayagha, by President Goodluck Jonathan?

    I think it is quite within his power to grant pardon to anybody who has committed an offence against the state. In the case of Alamieyeseigha, there is nothing wrong at all for President Jonathan to grant him pardon. I felt bad with the way Alamieyeseigha was treated because he was a state governor. He represented part of the sovereignty of Nigeria. It was too bad for the Nigerian state to be party of the way Alamieyeseigha was maltreated in London. He told me that I will represent him and I said to him that, who am I? I’ll do it. Whatever he must have done, you don’t disgrace him like that in public, in the presence of the passengers in the plane. Nigeria had disgraced itself; not Almesayagha alone, but the whole nation and, if the government that impeached him wants to corrects its mistakes the way it was done, it would have been better. These were done under the administration of Obasanjo. If now the federal government under President Goodluck Jonathan, who was his deputy, chose that the country should make some amendment by granting him pardoning, I think it is in order.

    But some people said there were allegations of corruption against him and that this pardon now appears to be a set back to the anti-graft war in Nigeria…

    I think that the state had already dealt with the corruption issue. I think they seized money from him and that had been settled. They recovered a large sum of money from him and that closed the chapter of corruption. That is behind us now. The real issue now is to pardon him for whatever he must have done. There is no way you can be raising the issue of corruption now after you had settle that by taking back part of the money that you allegedly unlawfully acquired.

    Is the National Assembly competent to make a new constitution for Nigeria?

    A new constitution? Not amendment? If you are talking of making a new constitution, not amendment, I will say no, they are not competent to do it. It is only the people of this country that are competent to do that. The power to make the constitution belongs to the people of this country by the virtue of Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution. The constitution is very clear on this. It says sovereignty of the country belongs to the people of Nigeria, through whom the government derives its powers. Only the people of this country have the power to make a new constitution for Nigeria, not the National Assembly.

    How can that happen without the convocation of a national conference?

    That is what we have been demanding from the federal government. The national conference should be called for two purposes. One, all the ethnic nationalities, the civil society organisations and individuals should sit together at the conference table and deliberate on how they will live together. There are issues on how every nationality and the people of this country should to live together in peace. This is beyond the competence of the National Assembly. The second one is for them to decide on the issue of the constitution. The most important issue really is not about the contents of the constitution, but the primary issue is the source of the authority of the constitution as the supreme law of the land. Section 1 of the constitution says that this constitution is the supreme law of the land and certainly not the National Assembly. The National Assembly cannot be the source of the authority, but it is the creation of the constitution. So, it cannot be the source of the authority of the constitution that created it. Where is the source of authority of the constitution as the supreme law of the land? So, the source of the authority is the people and the constitution said that the sovereignty belongs to the people, whom the organs of government belong. This is the primary issue we have to address before we talk about the content of the existing constitutional provision and about how you want to amend the constitution. You must call all the people together and adopt a constitution, through the national conference and through the constituent assembly of the people. When you talk about a Constituent Assembly, it is not the same as the National Conference, but people may not understand the difference. A Constituent Assembly is established and manifested specifically to make a constitution. It does not have any other business. The National Assembly is an assembly elected by the people to govern themselves under the constitution. Under the Constituent Assembly, the people are constituted for the interest of the country. The National Conference is not the end because after the conference, that is agreed upon should be ratified in a referendum before it becomes the people’s constitution. Any constitution made by the National Assembly cannot be seen as the people constitution.

    The North is calling for amnesty for the members of Boko Haram sect. What is your reaction?

    I agree with how President Jonathan has refused to grant them amnesty. The analogy they have drawn between is wrong between the militancy in the Niger Delta and the Boko Haram is wrong. Boko Haram is insurgency. Insurgency is when you organise a revolt against the authority of the state, but the people in the Niger Delta never did that. They are militants. Militancy is a protest against deprivation. They never staged any revolt against the authority of the state. Although they were involved in gang activities, which involved in kidnapping, destroying pipelines and so on, but they never revolted against the authority of the state like the Boko Haram is doing. So, why should the question of the amnesty arise? They are not entitled to any amnesty the way it was granted to the militants in the Niger Delta.

    Do you see the birth of the mega party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), leading to the restoration of the two-party system in Nigeria?

    What is two party system? Is it the two-party system that was created by Babangida? When you talk about two party system, you are talking about a kind of party created by fiat. A two-party system that is created voluntarily, that is true two party system. What decree says there must be two-party system in the country? To me, it is a nonsense. It can’t work. In this country, if we are to have a two-party system, it is going to be voluntary process. The merger has not created two- party system because, apart from the PDP and the parties in the merger, there are other parties. Not all the parties outside the PDP are in the merger. When Nigerians voluntarily agree that there should be only two parties through the process of merger, realignment or cooperation with other small parties, they will rather fold up or merge with either the PDP or other large parties. That is what I understand as the two-party system.

    What is your reaction to the North’s agitation for power shift in 2015?

    That is part of what the National Conference is meant to address. I have always believed that the highest office in the land should be made to go round the ethnic nationalities and the component units in the country. We are 300 ethnic groups. There is no way you can say it will go round like that, but it should go round the six geo-political zones as suggested. Now, the power shift, frankly, it does not make any sense to me. But let us sit together and decide on how the office should be rotated. Have all the zones held the office? We need to take that into account and know if you have held it for the same number of years with other areas. Some areas have never held it before and you are clamoring for power shift again. I am not impressed with it at all. Let all of us sit together and agree on how this thing is to be rotated. I think with that, we can come to a reasonable conclusion. But we should not sit down and start shouting power shifting.

    Does that means that the alleged pact between the President and some groups in the North is meaningless?

    I am not taking about the pact. I am talking about the country as a whole, that the people should come together and decide on how the office should be rotated. I am not concerned about any agreement they have reached. Within the PDP, that is their business. Although the whole country might like to know what is happening within the PDP, either they have agreement with Jonathan to run for only one term or not, it is their own business. Let them settle it. But in my own view, if I were Jonathan, I will not run.

    Why won’t you run?

    Because of the interest of the country. It is obvious that, if Jonathan is going to run, some people will use it as a reason to create anarchy. I will prefer him to concentrate between now and 2015, which is more than two years, achieving something implementable on the transformation agenda of his administration, so that he can become a national hero. He will become a hero, if he were to announce that he is not going to contest in 2015 and he is to concentrate on his transformation agenda. To change this country requires a revolution. His effort, the transformation agenda are inadequate. So also his approach to the economy revival is inadequate. Is that transformation? Transformation is to change the the nature and the character of the economy, to make it transform the society. Our society is morally and economically bankrupt. We cannot have economic development through the corrupt and bankrupt society. It is a disaster. I am talking about the social and ethical revolution and that he should come out and lead it. People will follow him and he will become a national hero. I expected him to mobilize people for national transformation. You cannot transform this country while sitting in the office, but you need to come out and address people on how to move the country forward. Anywhere you go, you should be campaigning for national transformation and you become a national hero. People need to understand that power is transient and immediately you leave the office, it disappears. That is why you see the politicians fighting against each other because they don’t want to be forgotten. But they will be forgotten, except they make themselves a national hero. Forget about power, he will be more than four years in 2015, what else does he need? What I think he should do is to make sure that his name is counted in the history of this country and he will become national heroes. That is what I expected him to be concernd with. Is it money, power or what else does he want? If he continues again for the next four years, at the end of the day, he will be forgotten, if he has no good record. Nobody will ever remember that he was once the President of this nation. People are not remembered for the office they have held, but the legacies thay are leaving behind, what they have done and the ideas that they have invented, which made the world to advance and the country a better place to live. It is not all about money and the number of years you are in power. So what else does he want?

     

     

     

  • Jonathan forwards budget amendment to NASS

    Jonathan forwards budget amendment to NASS

    President Goodluck Jonathan has forwarded the 2013 Appropriation Act Amendment Proposal to the National Assembly for approval.

    Jonathan also forwarded the 2013 Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) budget amendment proposal for consideration and approval by the lawmakers.

    This is contained in a letter from the president to the Senate President, David Mark, on Tuesday.

    The president commended the National Assembly for the quick passage of the 2013 budget.

    He requested for the review of some clauses in the budget which, according to him, can be detrimental to the work of the executive arm of government.

    “This, indeed, demonstrates the enduring partnership between the two arms of government in discharging our shared responsibility for nation-building.

    “The 2013 Appropriation Act includes some clauses which may be injurious to the spirit of separation of powers and which could hamper the work of the executive arm of government.

    “I, therefore, request that these should be reviewed,’’ the president said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that clause 6, clause 7 and clause 10 of the 2013 Appropriation Act have been listed for necessary amendment.

    Clause 6 deals with the need to ensure prompt release of funds to the appropriate agency.

    Clause 7 compels the accountant-general of the federation to forward to the National Assembly full details of funds released to government agencies immediately such funds are released.

    Clause 10 centres on the non-inclusion of the budget of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the 2013 Appropriation Act.

     

  • 2015: Jonathan can’t be PDP’s sole candidate, says Atiku

    2015: Jonathan can’t be PDP’s sole candidate, says Atiku

    •Ex-VP vows to resist party’s  likely constitution change

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has vowed to resist any attempt to foist President Goodluck Jonathan on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the sole candidate in 2015.

    Atiku, who has declared his intention to seek the PDP ticket ahead of the 2015 polls, spoke in Kano yesterday. He was reacting to alleged surreptitious moves to amend the PDP Constitution to pave the way for Jonathan’s sole candidacy.

    Elder statesman and Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark, in a letter to Niger State Governor Babangida,Aliyu, which he read to reporters in Abuja last week, said there was nothing wrong with a Jonathan sole candidacy.

    He said the practice in democratic presidential system of government is that “an incumbent President remains the sole candidate of a political party at the party’s convention, if he or she is willing to contest for a second term in office”.

    The former minister said it was the practice in the United States from where Nigeria copied its presidential system for the incumbent President to automatically get his party’s ticket.

    He wondered whether the late President Umaru Yar’Adua would not have sought a second term in office if he were to be alive.

    Clark said: “To lend credence to the fact that a sitting President is entitled to a second term, the ambitious and unpatriotic governors and some northern conservative politicians confirmed this constitutional provision by saying that it was the second term of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua that the North wanted to complete in 2011.

    “In other words, the late President was entitled to eight years in office but Jonathan is entitled to only a single term, contrary to the 1999 Constitution.”

    Atiku said: “My position is that as far as PDP Constitution is concerned, any attempt to change the party’s rule to favour the President as a sole candidate in the event of his willingness to re-contest is unconstitutional. The contest should be open to all with the desire to pursue an ambition on the platform of the PDP.

    “I don’t think any such amendment of the party constitution will be successful; we are looking forward to a successful transition in 2015.”

    Atiku also picked hole in the statement credited to a Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that there would be no election in the North in 2015 due to the security challenges being experienced in the region.

    To him, such are uncalled for.

    “For me, that is a wrong statement to come from any such office because as far as I am concerned, the entire North is peaceful, except for two states. How can you now say there may not be election in the North with 19 states, just because there is problem in two states.

    “We don’t know the man who made the statement is working for; he certainly is not reflecting INEC’s position. It is an inaccurate statement, that we will not go for election in the North.”

    On the allegation that INEC and the PDP are working to thwart the All Progressive Congress (APC) registration, Atiku said the allegation was unsubstantiated. He said he conducted a private investigation, which confirmed that the PDP is not behind the registration crisis.

     

  • Fashola to Jonathan: ship wrecks deface Lagos coastline

    Fashola to Jonathan: ship wrecks deface Lagos coastline

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure the removal of ship wrecks and abandoned vessels from the city’s coastline.

    The wrecks and vessels are defacing the coastline, Fashola said at the Nigeria Maritime Expo (NIMAREX) in Lagos.

    Represented by his Commissioner of Transport Mr Kayode Opeifa, Fashola said in Lagos, over 250 metres of the coastline have been eroded in the last three years by abandoned vessels and wrecked ships.

    He urged the Federal Government to save over 18 million Lagosians from ocean surge.

    Torrential rains in parts of the state last year, he said, were tragic as many lives were lost and properties worth millions of naira washed away.

    The wrecks should be removed because they could serve as hide-outs to miscreants, he said.

    Fashola said the state,which is the commercial nerve centre of the country, was shut and economic activities grounded to a halt following fears of flooding because of failure to remove the wrecks and vessels.

    Most of the villages on the Alpha Beach, the governor said, were deserted by the residents because of the last year’s flood, warning that there may be a recurrence unless the Federal Government removed the wrecks and abandoned vessels.

    Last year’s ocean surge, the governor said, was terrible because of the wrecks.

    Fashola said the incident was a wake-up call for the Federal Government to take climate changes seriously.

    He said there were wrecks which were potentially, either dangerous to navigation, decayed or had become hazardous, toxic and could be dangerous to the health of the people.

    “We have to look into ways we can tackle the problems of ship wrecks. Ship wrecks have rendered the Lagos coastline not as safe as we intend it to be. They abound all over the state and they have become very, very difficult and expensive for us to maintain.

    “The recent ocean surge along our beach line is a testimony to the problem they posed to our environment.

    “It you visit Alpha beach and a lot of Lagos beaches, you will see that they are almost gone. The major cause of this is ship wreck,” Fashola said.

    In his speach, the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan at the event, said the Federal Government is set to remove all the wrecks along the channels.

    The Minister assured that the contract for the removal of the wrecks would be awarded before the end of the secon quarter of the year.

    Umar also said the contract for the rehabilitation of the rail line linking Apapa would be awarded.

    United States’ Consul-General in Nigeria, Mr Jeffrey Hawkins, deplored what he called the high level of insecurity on the waterways.

    The Federal Government, he said, is losing about $7 billion annually because of piracy on the nation’s territorial waters and Gulf of Guinea.

    Pirate attacks and sea robbery, he said, remained the major obstacles against foreign direct investment.

    He claimed that some security officials were privy to some illegal activities off the nation’s coast.

    He said from cargo theft to kidnapping for ransom, the Gulf of Guinea was becoming a more dangerous place to do business.

    Available data and the anecdotal evidence, he said, showed that the situation is worrisome, adding that Americans do not see any hope that the situation will get better soon unless the government improves its institutional collaboration and shows the political will to tackle the problem.

    “The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recently reported that sea piracy around the globe dropped substantially in 2012, to its lowest level in five years. Yet, at the same time, the frequency of maritime attacks in the Gulf of Guinea has increased significantly. The IMB reported 10 attacks off Nigeria in 2011, then 27 attacks in 2012, and most people we’ve talked with, have suggested the IMB figures only account for a portion of actual incidents,” Hawkins said.

  • Outrage over N6bn donation to Jonathan’s hometown church

    Outrage over N6bn donation to Jonathan’s hometown church

    There was outrage yesterday after over N6 billion was donated in Lagos at the fund raising in aid of St. Stephen’s Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, home town of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The event attended by the president held at the high brow Civic Centre, Victoria Island. The highest donation was given by Prince Arthur Eze, a business tycoon. He donated N1.8 billion.

    Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State made a donation of N230 million on behalf of the newly-formed PDP Governors Forum .

    He was recently made chairman of the forum which was created as a separate body from the Nigerian Governors Forum headed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi. Another N100million was donated by Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State on behalf of South- South state Governors.

    Governor Seriake Dickson pledged to build the nursery school and cancer diagnostic centre components of the project at Otuoke as the contribution of Bayelsa.

    The church came into national consciousness in April last year when Gitto Construzioni Generali Nigeria Limited, an Italian construction firm donated the multi-million dollar building to President Jonathan’s home church. The donation of the building provoked a hail of criticism against the president with many calling on the anti-graft agencies to step into it.

    Several PDP governors were said to be unaware, last night, of the donation made on their behalf by Akpabio.

    Their spokespersons said their bosses were not consulted on the donation.

    Speaking at the fund raising, President Jonathan urged wealthy Nigerians to contribute meaningfully to the development of poor communities in the country.

    This, according to him, will go a long way in empowering youths.

    Jonathan noted that the only way to ensure that one’s memory is kept alive is to make positive impact in the lives of the people.

    He said: “We are all mortal beings, we are all biological specimen so we will all die but when you die, what will you be remembered for, what will you leave behind? I used to tell people that even the house I was struggling to build in the village, these days in this global age, how am I sure that my children will even stay in my root.”

    “They want to go to West Indies, they want to go to Latin America, so I was even joking with people that if I look at the behaviour of my children and if I don’t see any of them that will patronize the village, even my house I will donate it out before I die.”

    Jonathan, said that the project for the St. Stephens Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre in his home town was so dear to him.

    He spoke of his determination to ensure that the younger generation of Nigerians pass through a better system of education different from the one he experienced while growing up.

    “I feel the only thing I can do is to make sure that from Nursery School to Primary and Secondary School, there should be a standard educational facility and youth programme, so that it gives opportunity for the younger ones to grow even if we die in the next 100 years, people will remember that those before them have something for them”

    He said that the Youth Development Centre was put under the control of the church because of the long history of churches using funds effectively for development and that they had been able to ensure that such developmental projects endure.

    Speaking earlier, Akwa Ibom State Governor and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Godswill Akpabio said that the project was part of the vision of President Jonathan to ensure that the youths of Otuoke have better education and secured future.

    Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Peter Obi ( Anambra) and Liyel Imoke (Cross Rivers) lauded the initiative, saying that they would replicate such initiative in their states.

    Present at the occasion were Chairman of Visafone, Mr.Jim Ovia; Chairman Capital oil, Chief Ifeanyi Uba; Chairman of A-Z Oil, Chika Okafor, Chairman Arik Air, Sir Joseph Arumemi–Ikhide,Mr. Oba Otudeko and Tony Elumenu.

    Others who attended the occasion included Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Tunde Lemo, some Ministers, Senators, members of the House of Representatives and prominent indigenes of Otuoke.

    Critics said yesterday’s fundraising was reminiscent of the much-criticised launching by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to raise funds for his presidential library. The event held in Abeokuta on May 14, 2005 realised about N6 billion, but was widely condemned as public extortion.

    Reacting to the donations, renowned constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay, said the development shows the abysmal level that ethical standards in governance had fallen in the country.

    He said: “This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Remember former President Olusegun Obasanjo also did a similar thing to raise money for his library.”

    Describing the president’s action as morally wrong, Sagay continued, “It amounts to extorting money from sycophants who are unjustly benefiting from government. As far as I am concerned, the development fell below ethical standard and was not supposed to happen.”

    Former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye also condemned the huge donation.

    “The truth of the matter is that those who made the donation did so not because they love God, but rather President Jonathan. Ask these people if they have built any church in their localities and the answer will be no,” he said.

    Melaye, who is also the Convener, Anti Corruption Network, added, “Not only is this action morally wrong, it is an open display of open corruption that has over the entire fabric of this country.”

    A chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Dr. Usman Bugaje, also faulted the donations.

    He castigated governors who donated at the event, saying it is criminal to embark on such frivolous spending when millions of their supposed voters are languishing for absence of basic necessities of life.

    According to him: “Are the monies appropriated in the budget? If they are properly appropriated, is the donation in the best interest of the public?

    “Are the monies from their private pockets? It is criminal to ignore the dire lack and infrastructural shortcomings in their states to donate such monies.

    “There are people dying because they cannot afford N500 drugs in their states and the governors are busy spending public funds as they like”.

    The former member of the House of Representatives added: “It is a height of irresponsibility and insensitivity to spend public funds on such frivolities just because the President is involved.

    Human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo, condemned the use of public funds for private enterprises.

    He said the church is a private organisation that should never benefit from public funds.

    Keyamo stated: “It is a gross mismanagement of the public funds. It is also against the anti-corruption laws, especially a public official like the President soliciting for donations from private individuals and government contractors like Chief Arthur Eze.”

    On his part, Chief Chekwas Okorie, expressed shock at the organisation of such fund raising bazaar in Lagos, “My immediate reaction to this news is that it is quite indecent for Mr. President to preside over such a fund raising bazaar. It is indecent for him to gather contractors working for government and government officials superintending over state funds, and using his position as president to extract such huge resources for a village church.

    “In fact, for him to even contemplate this fund-raising bazaar shows his level of insensitivity on matters of using executive influence to extract the peoples’ resources. I think it is not too far from extortion though the people and the governors that donated were not openly forced to do so. Given his position as the President and Commander-In-Chief, it is doubtful if the invited donors had any choice not to give so generously.

    “Also, since no village church would cost up to N6 billion, Nigerians will want to know how President Jonathan will utilise the balance. The whole thing is baffling,” he said.

    In his reaction, Chief Ayo Adebanjo said, “This type of uncaring attitude is now synonymous with these people. It goes a long way to show their brazen display of nonchalance towards how the people feel. How can you explain the fact that a single individual donated nearly N2 billion? It is unimaginable. Before such a person will cough out that much, he must have benefitted about ten times of that from the system either by award of contract, oil blocks or even undue waivers. I just hope they will stop this because it has a way of infuriating the people. I’m a Christian but I believe Christians too should be above board.”

  • The wages of arbitrary rule

    The wages of arbitrary rule

    It is a normative freefall in Nigeria. When a society experiences a combination of anomie and normlessness, the captive denizens exhibit a certain numbness of feeling and weariness of the soul arising from sheer ethical disorientation. There is a growing effrontery and shamelessness emanating from the seat of power and governance. A feral compulsion is abroad as the state of nature returns. And since the normative grid around which human societies cohere and coalesce has collapsed, everybody is openly hunting down everybody. It is called social cannibalism.

    The ongoing erosion of the templates of democratic rule in Nigeria bodes ill for the former British colony. Arbitrary rule has become the norm in the nation. The dangerous but sure fact about arbitrary rule is that it often provokes its own dangerous and arbitrary reaction. As general arbitrariness takes on specific arbitrary rule mutual cancellation often results. We are not there yet, but we are slowly creeping towards it. When and if the current democratic experiment collapses, it is surely going to take Nigeria as we know it along with itself. This is the danger of democratic rule superintended by a non-democratic elite.

    As the societal rot and official corruption accelerate, and as arbitrary and despotic rule takes firm roots in the nation, it is now as clear as daylight that the dominant Nigerian political class can no longer avoid a historic retribution. No one is sure of how and when this will come about. But one thing is now very clear. As it happened in the First and and Second Republics, the national contradictions thrown up by the dissolute and feckless nature of the political class can no longer be solved or resolved under the rubric and template of “normal” democratic rule without some extra-constitutional tinkering with the current structure and political configuration of the nation.

    There is an urgent need for a national referendum about certain nation-disabling fundaments which have hobbled Nigeria’s march to authentic nationhood and rendered governance at the centre very amenable to despotic arbitrary rule and the tyranny of jungle justice. Why is Jonathan behaving true to type and like all Nigerian civilian and military despots despite the much rhapsodized pan-Nigerian mandate that swept him into power?

    Jonathan’s personal imprimatur in the current phase of the national crisis has been very disturbing, marked as it is by a feckless and reckless disdain for consensus building and the childlike relish with which he seems to delight in cocking a snook at the nation’s dominant power blocs. It may be that Jonathan probably knows what many do not know that Nigeria is an unviable proposition. He has detonated quite a few explosives, and he is not done yet, probably until Mount Vesuvius arrives in Abuja. A product of arbitrary and whimsical messianic delusion, he has shown remarkable courage and consistency in exposing the hollow hubris of those who foisted him on the nation. They will be licking their wounds for a very long time.

    As this column never tires of insisting, Jonathan is not the problem. We must move beyond individual manifestation of national contradictions if we are ever to arrive at the real source of our problems. Take the case of the state pardons that have once again exposed the ethnic, ethical , political and economic fault lines of the nation. The fact that four prominent former rulers of Nigeria stayed away from the Council of State meeting at which Jonathan steamrolled his pardon request ought to tell its own story. But the president was not going to be fazed by the subtle blackmail of his predecessors.

    The irony, however, is that this black market convening of the Council of States does not give the highest advisory organ in the nation the dignity and gravitas it deserves. It also exposes a dangerous dysfunction in the body which cannot endear it to fellow citizens or commend it as a group of revered arbiters. Had General Abdulsalaam attended the meeting, he would have been able to throw light on the precise and specific status of General Diya and co and helped to resolve the legal conundrum. Jonathan would have saved the state much public ridicule and scorn.

    Ordinarily, state pardons ought to reflect certain guiding principles which promote core national values. The whole exercise must be informed by a drastic objectivity and impersonal rigour which promote the institutionalisation of the rule of law and social justice. They must not be informed by personal consideration, disdain for the moral health of the society or by political clientelism.

    On several fronts, Jonathan’s pardons fall far short of this. Yet we must learn to disentangle the good from the bad and ugly. In several respects, Jonathan ought to be commended for showing courage and statesmanship in granting state pardon to the victims of the 1995 and 1997 purported coups against the government of General Sani Abacha.

    Some of these illustrious officers paid a terrible price for merely daring to speak truth to power, particularly in the wake of the annulment of the June 12 presidential election. A few of them were merely the victims of professional rivalry and envy and of General Abacha’s vengeful brutality and dark paranoid furies. Today, many of them remain walking shadows of their former selves, hobbled forever by the excruciating physical torture and mental torment they were subjected to.

    An army that lost its way in the political jungle is a monster indeed. This pardon ought to have come much earlier as a culmination of the process that led to the Oputa Panel and an act of national closure to an inglorious epoch of military rule. But for some inexplicable reasons, both the process and the outcome were aborted by their initiator. It would appear that General Obasanjo’s judgement and sense of justice were beclouded by vengeful animosities and personal vendetta.

    The problem with this inability to rise above petty animus to a statesmanlike enunciation of national principles is that it is also a function of arbitrary rule. There is covert and overt dimension to arbitrary rule as we have seen in the Justice Salami saga. An arbitrary ruler may decide to keep quiet in the face of strong social and political currents in the society, thus hoping to profit from the ethical chaos of a country he ought to provide leadership for. This kind of arbitrary rule sets the template for future arbitrary rule and the reign of anomie.

    If we are looking for the wages of arbitrary rule, we need not look very far. There is a way in which the immediate past always returns to haunt the present. The Alamieyeseigha saga is a classic instance of political nemesis arising from arbitrary rule. Here is a man who has been sinned against as much as he has sinned against his own country and people. Whatever his economic crimes and as heinous as these might have been, Alamieyeseigha ought not to have been removed from office by a kangaroo assembly.

    It was setting a marble template for arbitrary rule. The former governor of Bayelsa State ought to have been allowed to serve out his term as stipulated by the letter of the constitution before being arraigned, provided his economic crimes and the international embarrassment he caused the nation were the real reason for the furious animus of the powers that be. The problem with putting down durable institutions is that it does not allow personal sentiments to get in the way of social justice, nor does it permit private grievances to pursue public rectitude and order.

    As this columnist cautioned Malam Nuhu Ribadu then, the kind of noble relief he sought for the nation against economic predators was only feasible in a genuine revolutionary situation and not under a democratic dispensation with entrenched guidelines and legal stipulations. A phantom revolutionary situation has a way of provoking genuine counter-revolutions, consuming its starry-eyed idealists in the process.

    But the poor Malam was too far gone in this drastic miscognition of subsisting reality. In the event, Nuhu Ribadu himself was to become a victim of arbitrary rule, hounded out of his job and eventually out of uniform with his former patrons utterly powerless to do anything about it. For a moment, Ribadu himself became an absconding fugitive from his beloved fatherland. The problem with arbitrary rule is that once it is set in motion, it becomes an impersonal fascist terror guillotine which cannot recognise its original owner; an equal opportunity decapitator.

    There are more ominous ironies in the air, and those who have ears let them hear. It was the arbitrary and unconstitutional removal of the former governor of Bayelsa that paved the way for Goodluck Jonathan and provided him with an unstoppable momentum to the nation’s presidency. Now, the falcon can no longer hearken to the falconer; the monkey marionette has become his own monkey. Arbitrary rule is the name of the game and you cannot blame Jonathan for sticking to a winning formula.

    So far so good. By granting pardon to his benefactor and former godfather, Jonathan has also set himself up in the jungle of arbitrary rule. Jonathan is mixing politics and grim political calculation involving personal gain with public order and social justice. His outburst and unpresidential diatribe against the perceived enemies of his former boss show how desperate and arbitrary things have become in the country. In the face of public obloquy Jonathan ought to have maintained a dignified silence.

    The political reality is that Jonathan needs the former Squadron Leader to secure his home base in the looming and inevitable showdown with Nigeria’s dominant power blocs and its fractious factions. Whatever his economic infractions, Alams remains a local hero among his people for his sterling contribution to Niger Delta emancipation. The traditional kingmakers of Nigeria have their back to the wall on this one. Before the current reign of arbitrariness exhausts its possibilities, there will be a lot of wailing and caterwauling in the land. Those who set the template for arbitrary rule and their acquiescing godsons will receive their comeuppance in the fullness of time. That is the iron law of the post-colonial jungle.

  • Boko Haram: Don’t listen to amnesty plea, group tells Jonathan

    A group known as Forum Against Impunity (FAI) has advised President Goodluck Jonathan not to listen to anybody that calls for amnesty to Boko Haram group.

    It said, if amnesty is granted to Boko Haram, then the highest national honours should be awarded to all criminals, convicted or still at large, including kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists, treasury looters, murderers, pipeline vandals, etc.

    President of the group, Chukwuemeka Onyesoh, who made the petition available to reporters yesterday in Awka, said Boko-Haram members are fundamentalist militants.

    According to him, “Boko-Haram challenge in Nigeria is, therefore, not a terrorism challenge; it is an ideology, a very compelling of ideas that cause individuals to devote their lives, sometimes to give up their lives for this dream of how society can be ordered.”

    He added: “Mr. President, granting total amnesty to Boko-Haram is equivalent to conceding de facto presidency of Nigeria to militant Islamists whereas you remain in Aso Rock merely as de jure president. Nigeria did not elect you for abdication of duty,” Onyesoh wrote.